New Member with no brains seeks help

[kat2]

hi guys,
dont know if you can help but here goes, I have created in dvd moviefactory 5 a menu which is a jpg still of one of my video images, ontop of this I have inserted a video window and a click to play button.
Now heres the problem, so far this works fine, but I wish to add background music to my menu only, I have tried to insert the music above where it says background but their appears to be a time limit on how long the music can play which is very short. is their a way to extend the background music to play the full length of the musical track, the music is an mp3 file. the whole project works fine apart from this one issue? Its just like when you view a normal dvd that has a menu, you have music running in the background then you select a title or chapter and the movie plays
hope I have put this across alright? not sure really but it looks nice apart from the music not working to full length.
huggs kat

[snoops]

Make sure motion menu is not selected, which is max 30 seconds.

[kat2]

hi, snoops and thanku for replying, I have tried that (and I should have said) but I like the concept of the window playing. Seems to be abit of a stumbling block, I stop the motion menu feature, I get the increased length of music, but it looks alittle dull looking at a still menu and a still motion window!
hmmm...
any other suggestions I am greatfull for your replys
thanku
Kat

[snoops]

Hi Kat,

sorry, I can't help because MF5 motion menus have this limitation

Changing this behavior would require modifying the program.

BTW for someone without brains you posed your question very clearly.

[sjj1805]

To have longer than 30 seconds and at the same time have motion thumbnails you need
DVD Workshop 2.

[kat2]

Hi, Steve, and thankyou again, yes, I did notice that it was tied to the motion menu slider, I just thought maybe in the project settings their might have been an option to adjust the timings to loop, the software does have some really nice features but I was wondering how it would be possible to save the program settings and edit it in dvd workshop? I have looked at some other postings here but dont understand how to save it to a format that would be recognised by another ulead product.
huggs
kat
and thanku both for your replys

[sjj1805]

If you want to use MovieFactory or any other Ulead programs DVD Menus with DVD Workshop then take a look at the tutorial
Creating a DVD Menu From Scratch and simply import your existing menus into DVD Workshop.

The locations of those menus can be found in this article
MF5/ VS9 /VS10: Share Menus, Transitions between products

[kat2]

Hi, Steve, and thanku once again, hmm something to think about in the future I didnt realise the potential of the program. I was rather hoping that I could import one complete saved project say a workshop saved project into moviefactory? I did try and it doesnt seem to see it so, perhaps its not possible? I would have thought cross platform compatability between the same companys products would have been thought out really so that you can take advantage of one products features and bring it into another? all Ulead of course.
your very kind to respond to my posts its a steep but wonderfull learning curve, thankyou again
kat
huggs

[snoops]

Hi Kat,

There are exceptions, like Ulead MediaStudio Pro (which allows including certain project files like Ulead CG Infinity and VideoStudio in its video timeline), but generally the programs only can read their own projects.

What you were hoping for doesn't make sense from the marketing point of view when 2 products are in the same segment but in different price ranges:
If it were possible to load a project from DVD Workshop with all its features into MF, then MF would need to support those features in order to load the project in a sane way.

Microsoft Office is different because it is a suite of products for different tasks, that has been made to allow including objects from each other.

[kat2]

Hi, Snoops and thankyou for posting I rather ment say for example you purchased the lowest form of software and worked up over time through a group of software products then it should be upward compatible not backward compatible! I might be wrong here, but I thought dvdworkshop products might be workable in moviefactory and that movie factory might work in videostudio, and that videostudio might work in mediastudio, so for example if movie factory didnt support text titlescroll, then purhcasing the next product up would but you would still be able to import your project from a lower program to an upper program, (on the costings scale) this would increase sales because as we become more familar with the less complex programs and gain confidence then moving up to the next program that offeres more functionality but still retaining familarity I thought would have been very good, abit like purchasing the luxury version of a motor car! you have the basic, to the luxury version.
Just a thought really
huggs
Kat, and thanku once again

[snoops]

Hi Kat,

should be upward compatible

In this case I agree. Too bad you were not part of the product planning team.
The problem in this case is that MF5 (low end) actually has features that WS2 does not have, like menu transitions, 16:9. So upward compatibilty is not present either, and the 2 individual products would have to be adapted.
They even have different structures for the content and templates of their products, which could simply be shared if planned properly Not to mention all the various DLLs. Different versions of the same product are affected also.

Planning seems to be a major weakness of Ulead. This is shown not only by the examples just mentioned. Just take a look at the structure of the templates. Major changes with every version, which is then revised in the next version.
Example MF5: Content\Menu Template
Compared to MF4 16x9 has now been cleaned, but "HD Basic" was thrown in. "HD Basic" has a 16x9 subfolder which has the Customize folder known from 4x3 and 16x9... but there is a "HD Basic" folder in there too, not "Scene Button" etc.
The next version may sort out the HD templates and make the content (once again) incompatible. The templates may be renamed again, making the import from a previous version a major project. Possibly with changes in the template INI file handling so that you almost need to be a hacker to get previous templates into a newer version. Not to mention the templates from VS10.

[sjj1805]

I don't expect it to go anywhere but a month or two ago I sent to Ulead a suggestion for future editions of the various products.

When a new version appears the first question that is invariably asked by our members is "How do I get my existing Menus, Transitions and other items into my new version. How do I use menus, transitions etc from my other Ulead products in the products I have just bought.

My suggestion is to have a common folder for these items rather than individual folders in each product with the same content appearing on your hard drive more than once.

This would save our members having to come up with procedures such as:
MF5/ VS9 /VS10: Share Menus, Transitions between products
Add Movie Factory 4 Menu Templates to Movie Factory 5.
Copying Buttons And Frames From Prior DVDMF Versions Into Version 5

It would also prevent having to issue complex installation instructions when Ulead provide Free Extra Content every now and again such as
Free Olympic Templates

DVD MovieFactory

1. Identify the folder where the MovieFactory files are located. In most cases the location is C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 3.0. ( or Ulead DVD MovieFactory 4Disc Creator )
2. Find a folder named "Template" in "C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 4.0". ( or Ulead DVD MovieFactory 4Disc Creator )
3. Copy these 5 menu templates (.ufo files) to the "Template\Sports" folder
4. Launch DVD MovieFactory 4and you can see these 5 menu templates shown in the "Sport" category

VideoStudio

1. Identify the folder where the VideoStudio files are located. In most cases the location is C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 9.0
2. Find a folder named "Template" in "C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 9.0"
3. Copy these 5 menu templates (.ufo files) to the "Template\Sports" folder
4. Launch VideoStudio 9 and you will see these 5 menu templates shown in the "Sports" category

CD & DVD PictureShow

1. Identify the folder where the PictureShow files are located. In most cases the location is C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD PictureShow 3.0
2. Find a folder named "Template" in "C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD PictureShow 3.0"
3. Copy these 5 menu templates (.ufo files) to the "Template\Others" folder
4. Launch DVD PictureShow 3 and you can see these 5 menu templates shown in the "Others" category

[snoops]

Hi Steve,
maybe they will eventually decide to follow your advice... a common base for all that stuff is not just desirable for their customers but for themselves too.

There are some common modules in "Common Files", so they do know how to do it

[paulocd]

Dear Steve

I have MovieFactory 5 now and was trying to use my MF2 menu templates.
I have followed your instructions but it seems that MF5 does not recognise ufo files from MF2, can you confirm this?

I cannot manage to get MF2 menu templates to work in MF5 even after copying them. They are completely ignored by MF5.

Anyone else knows a workaround?
Is there an import facility from MF2 to MF5?

Thanks
Paulo.

[sjj1805]

I just checked my Hard Drive and was surprised to find I still have a copy of
MovieFactory 2 Installed. It possibly came with MSP7.
The Menu Templates for MF2 are located here:
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2\Template
The templates I have are in sub folders

• Classic
• Cool
• Corporate
• Home Movie
• Nature
• Romantic
• Sports

I noticed that MF5 did not contain a category Nature and so I copy/pasted
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2\Template\Nature
to
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5\Content\Menu Template\4x3\Nature

I then opened MovieFactory 5 and found the nature templates were present and correct.